SpaceX expanding to Mississippi

"WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today said the agreement signed today between the State of Mississippi and the commercial space company SpaceX bodes well for future job growth at and around NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.....“We have been talking with SpaceX for many years about working at Stennis Space Center, and I am pleased to officially welcome them to our Mississippi family. "

SpaceX is going to test a new engine called Raptor in Stennis. Raptor originally expected to be a hydrogen burning upper stage engine, and is now know to be a methane burning engine, used both upper and lower stages in new bigger launch vehicle. Raptor is also assumed to be used in Mars flight architecture!

(Methane can be produced “in situ” on Mars, and can also be stored more easily than liquid hydrogen)